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Review assessment

 

Review assessment

Review asssessment

Reviewing the assessment

This section looks at how to review the progress of the SSA. This is important because an initial SSA is often incomplete. Full information may not have been available at the time of the assessment, leading to the use of estimates or skimming over details. Reviewing the SSA can help to identify whether some of the steps in the assessment need to be revisited in greater detail, and whether some issues require further examination.

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Review assessment is the final activity in the Improve phase of SSA

Review assessment is an activity in the Improve phase of SSA

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Reviewing the assessment

It is important to evaluate the completeness of the SSA and consider whether any further risk assessment is required. In particular, the group should examine whether:

  • any details have been skimmed over during the SSA process, as is often the case on an initial assessment due to time constraints;
  • any parts of the SSA may have been inaccurate, for example, based on rough estimates or using assumptions, perhaps due to a lack of data or under-attendance of stakeholders at the initial SSA;
  • the SSA revealed any unexpected issues which require further examination.

 

If any of these are the case, it may be necessary to do some further SSA work before putting the actions into practice. It may be necessary to go back and revisit the relevant steps in the SSA, allowing more time or ensuring the presence of the required stakeholders or data, as appropriate. In some cases, issues may be identified that require a whole new SSA, focused just on those issues.

In other cases, it may be possible to continue with implementing the actions, while keeping in mind some questions to be addressed when planning evaluation within the Implement actions activity.

Recommendations for further assessment from a case study: Set up a separate one-hour SSA meeting to review risks H and I; Review any additional risks introduced by implementing actions stated above; Do a new SSA to consider the risks of introducing a complete smoking ban.

Example of recommendations for further assessment

Putting ‘Reviewing assessment’ into practice

Space to record this information is provided in the SSA Assessment Form. To do this:

  1. Select the ‘Review assessment’ page in the Assessment Form.
  2. Enter details of any further assessment that is needed in the box headed Recommendations for further assessment.
  3. For each recommendation, enter the name of the Person responsible for making sure it is carried out, and the Timescale allowed for its completion in the columns provided.
  4. Other considerations can be listed in the final column if desired.
Screenshot of Review assessment page of the assessment form

Case Study

The completed ‘Review assessment’ page from the Section 136 case study is shown opposite. Further explanation of this stage in the case study can be found on the Section 136 page about Reviewing the assessment.

Screenshot of the Review assessment page from the Section 136 case study. The full form in pdf is available from the Resources page.

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Click to download PDF for full case study
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Planning a review of the system

It is also important to identify the conditions that will trigger a review of the system. This may be in the form of another SSA or a review meeting where further actions will be discussed. A review may be set for a particular time, e.g. after six months. Alternatively, it may be triggered when certain conditions are reached, such as the frequency of incidents rising above a particular, predetermined value.

The Triggers for review from a case study: Monitor the situation once the unit opens, particularly as regards item I: Capacity of the unit.

While this example is not explicit about the triggers for a review, it does indicate the kind of things that should be monitored and implies that the situation should be reviewed if these cause problems.

Putting ‘Planning a review of the system’ into practice

Space to record this information is provided in the SSA Assessment Form. To do this:

  1. Select the ‘Review assessment’ page in the Assessment Form.
  2. Enter the conditions that should trigger a review of the system in the box labelled Triggers for review at the bottom of the page.
Screenshot of Review assessment page of the assessment form

Case Study

The completed ‘Review assessment’ page from the Section 136 case study is shown opposite. Further explanation of this stage in the case study can be found on the Section 136 page about Planning a review of the system.

Screenshot of the Review assessment page from the Section 136 case study. The full form in pdf is available from the Resources page.

Click to enlarge
Click to download PDF for full case study
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